


All paths lead to Romulus

by Melime



Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: The rescue plan for the Romulans comes close to working, but as the ships move in for the evacuation, Hobus goes supernova before schedule, damaging the rescue ships and destroying entire planets before the Romulans can be saved. Starfleet is ready to move on, but Raffi suspects of sabotage.
Relationships: Raffi Musiker & Jean-Luc Picard
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	All paths lead to Romulus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lilacsigil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilacsigil/gifts).



Raffi placed her hand on the console, struggling to stand. She could feel blood dipping from her forehead, although she couldn't remember hitting her head. Everything sounded so distant, she pressed her eyes, trying to ground herself in reality.

"On screen." She heard someone yell. J.L.? She tried to turn towards the voice, but felt dizzy, holding both hands to the console.

"Anyone," the voice said, more urgent now, "on screen. Number One."

She couldn't focus on the buttons, but the order was enough to bring her back some muscle memory. She typed the command, then all hell broke loose. Screams, frantic voices, sobs. She turned to the screen and knew why.

There, where Romulus was supposed to be, there was nothing but debris. They were still far enough away that only a small fraction of the impact even reached them, but she wasn't sure if the other ships had been so lucky.

They were leading the evacuation, so they had to be the closest ship, didn't they? She tried to remember the position of the others, but nothing came except throbbing pain.

"Status report," J.L. ordered, and his voice helped guide her. There was work to be done now, all other considerations had to wait.

"Damage on all decks, dozens of injury reports but no death as of yet, warp drive down, impulse engine at half speed, life support 30%, we're leaking oxygen," she said, trusting the officer to take over where the human failed.

"Suggestion, Number One?"

"We need to evacuate crew quarters and seal off that portion of the ship, it might stabilize our life support long enough to conduct repairs, and prevent most of the leak."

"Make it so."

She typed the order, and realized her fingers were shaking. How could this have happened? They still had months, billions of people left to evacuate, an entire fleet of ships ready to take them.

"Life support at 50%, leak sealed."

Raffi didn't dare turning to look at J.L., she didn't think she could stand seeing such a great man in the state of despair she felt now.

"How many can the ship carry at our current level of life support?"

The computer spat out the calculation, uncaring that it might mean life or death for some.

"No more than a hundred extra souls, if we divert some environmental to basic life support."

"Very well, scan the debris for life signs. Give… give priority to those in unstable environments, we can return for the stranded."

She knew what he was doing, if the other ships had been affected, perhaps even more affected, they wouldn't be able to rescue everyone. Despite their training and instinct, they might have to leave officers behind, escape pods from the planet if there were any, one damaged ship couldn't save all.

"I passed the parameters to the transport room, they will need an hour to locate and transport that many. I'll go down to engineering to help with the…" she let go of the console to move, standing to her full height, and all went dark.

-

She woke up in sickbay. No, not sickbay, bigger. A hospital?

People around her were running, tending to more injuries than they seemed equipped to handle.

"Don't try to stand," a nurse said, tinkering with the device on Raffi's forehead. "You've suffered a traumatic brain injury, you'll need another hour or so to recover complete and normal brain function. In the meantime, I needed to wake you to monitor brain activity."

"My ship?" She managed to say, surprised at how slowly the words came to her.

"That would be," he checked on his padd, "the Verity? It went back to rescue more survivors, any ship that can still fly is making the rounds."

If they were close enough for that, it meant she was probably at a starbase. She tried to remember the closest one, but while her brain was being regenerated and rewired it was impossible.

"Romulus?"

"No signs of escape pods as of yet. Neighboring worlds have also been destroyed. Some outer colonies still have life signs, that's where the ships are moving now."

She felt the years coming and was powerless to stop them. How could they have been so wrong? They thought they had time, maybe not a lot, but enough to build the ships, enough to save an entire civilization.

She tried to ask what happened, but found that she couldn't put it in words. Perhaps there were no words for what happened.

-

"Someone made a mistake, and we need to understand what happened, so that nothing like this ever happens again," she all but yelled, her emotions taking the best of her.

"It is not the function of this board of inquiry to assign blame. We seek merely to ascertain the damages incurred by Starfleet."

"How can you say that? Entire planets are gone, the little that is left of the Romulans is scattered across the galaxy."

"Dismissed, lt. cmdr. Musiker."

They hadn't heard the end of her, she would find out what happened, she would… She needed to know what they did wrong, what part they played on the destruction of an entire race.

And if Starfleet wouldn't support her…

-

She finished packing, finding it odd to be without her uniform, without her badge. Starfleet was her home for all of her adult life, until it wasn't.

"Have you thought through this? We could appeal your demotion, I'll go there and tell them they need to find another admiral if they insist on losing one of the finest officers in the fleet," J.L. said.

It was moving, knowing that he would fall on his sword for her. The worst part was knowing he would really do it, no hesitation. If more officers were like him, perhaps she wouldn't need to leave, but most of the admiralty was only concerned with keeping the status quo and covering their asses.

"It's not about the rank. I mean, I did hack those files, I should have known the consequences. But I can't stay. I need to know what happened, why we failed. And it's obvious by now I can't do this as an officer. Starfleet isn't interested in learning the truth."

"There are other ways, we can request another formal inquiry, investigate ourselves if we must. If not the resources of the entire fleet, you would at least have a ship."

She shook her head. "The calculations couldn't have been that wrong, J.L., someone had to have tempered with either the computer or the star itself. Either way, it was sabotage. Someone wanted the Romulans gone, and I'll figure out why."

"You can't know that. Even today predicting this sort of event requires some speculation, there is still much we don't know about astronomical phenomena."

Always the idealist, always ready to believe there was a better answer. She would miss that the most about him.

She shook her head. "This is not my place anymore, I need to find out where that is." She hugged him.

"If you need anything, any assistance…"

The offer was genuine, and yet she knew he wouldn't be able to honor it. What she needed now might disrupt the fleet, and would certainly involve illegal activities. He might want to help, but this was still a man who believed in what Starfleet stood for, even as they had failed.

"Goodbye, J.L."

She would have been proud to follow him anywhere, but now she had her own path to forge.


End file.
